Hull wind hub turns out first £75m blade for Minister’s visit

Ben Barnett

A multi-million pound investment to transform Hull’s docks into an international hub for the off-shore wind power industry reaches a milestone today, when the first of hundreds of turbine blades to be manufactured at the site every year will be unveiled.

The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Greg Clark MP, is due to visit Siemens’ new wind power factory to see the first £75m blade that has been produced since the German engineering firm’s £310m investment in the city.

The blade has been manufactured for Siemens’ 7MW (megawatt) and 8MW turbines and will be among the first supplied to DONG Energy for the Race Bank wind farm - which is due to be fully operational in 2018 off the Norfolk and Lincolnshire coast.

Mr Clark will also view 90-metre turbine towers which have been assembled at the dockside ahead of a January delivery to Dudgeon offshore wind farm, also off the Norfolk coast; the first project to be serviced by the new facilities in Hull.

Mr Clark said: “This is exactly the relationship we want to see between our large infrastructure projects in the UK and our supply chain companies as part of our industrial strategy.

“Hull has established itself as an important manufacturing and engineering centre for this innovative and exciting new industry.”

Business Secretary Greg Clark is due to visit the Siemens factory in Hull today.

The Tunbridge Wells MP said the factory will supply new offshore wind projects capable of generating clean electricity to power more than 3m homes over the coming years.

Michael Hannibal, chief executive of offshore at Siemens Wind Power, said: “This new manufacturing plant is a major part of establishing offshore wind power as a key pillar of a sustainable energy mix in Europe.”

Construction on the site - the size of 78 football pitches - began at Hull’s Alexandra Dock less than two years ago and was built ahead of schedule and within budget.

According to Siemens, the engineering giant and partner Associated British Ports have transformed the under-used waterfront location into “a world-scale hub for wind power manufacturing, logistics and assembly”.

The development constitutes one of Siemens’ largest-ever investments worldwide in manufacturing facilities.